A Guam architect may seal with any image, imprint or other medium the Board approves, while the signature and date next to it have to be handwritten. Under 22 GCA § 32116(d), the design is one the Board authorizes, showing your name, registration number and professional designation; no size is given, and a certification statement goes beside the seal. Below: content, devices, signing, sealed documents and the house exception.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Sources read September 2026. Verified against 22 GCA § 32116 and the Guam Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors. Updated 8 November 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Documents that take the seal | Every technical submission, from drawings and specifications to plans and reports, that you prepare or that is prepared under your responsible control. | 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A), (B), (C) |
| What sealing certifies | You held responsible control over the content while it was prepared and met the required professional standard of care. | 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A), (B), (C) |
| Face content | The name you are registered under, your registration number and your professional designation. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Design | Authorized by the Board. The statute does not print a layout. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Size and shape | Nothing in 22 GCA ch. 32 sets a diameter, a shape or a letter height. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) (no dimension) |
| Device | Whatever image, imprint or other medium the Board approves, as long as the mark is permanent. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Signature and date | Written by hand next to the seal, together with the statutory certification statement. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Electronic signature | Refused. The statute does not accept a facsimile signature or a computer-generated signature or date. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
| Houses | A single family dwelling may carry an architect's or a civil engineer's seal; two family dwellings and such subdivisions need only a civil engineer's. | 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A), (B), (C) |
| Lapse or expiry | Not addressed. The chapter is silent on the seal after expiration, suspension or revocation. | 22 GCA § 32116(d) |
Licensed in more than one place? Check each jurisdiction in architect seal requirements by state. How an architect reaches licensure in Guam, from education through the ARE, appears in the national table on architect licensing requirements.
Which architectural documents need the seal on Guam?
Every technical submission you prepare, or that is prepared under your responsible control. 22 GCA § 32116(d)(9)(A) names drawings, specifications, plans and reports among them, and it gives the seal a defined meaning whenever you apply it.
Sealing states two things: you were in responsible control of the content while it was being prepared, and you applied the required professional standard of care. That meaning travels with every sheet and report your seal appears on.
What goes on the face of a Guam architect seal?
The name you are registered under, your registration number and your professional designation, arranged in the design the Board authorizes. Those elements come from the general provision in § 32116(d); the architect paragraph, (d)(9), adds no list of its own.
That shared section also refers to a professional title and an expiration date. Both target professional engineers, because the section speaks directly to an engineer's discipline and certificate expiry; see our page on discipline and expiration date fields on Guam PE seals. The text leaves open whether an expiration date appears on the Board's architect design, so confirm with the Board.
How big should a Guam architect seal be?
The statute is silent. For no profession it registers does 22 GCA ch. 32 set a diameter, shape or lettering height, which leaves size and layout to the design the Board authorizes.
Plan the title block around the whole group rather than the seal alone. Your signature and the date are written by hand next to the seal, and the certification statement sits with them.
Can the seal be a stamp, an embosser or an electronic image?
Any of the three, if the Board approves it and the mark is permanent. Section 32116(d) describes the seal as an “image, imprint or other medium” that the Board approves and requires it to leave a permanent mark on the sealed document.
Read functionally, that covers an inked rubber stamp, the raised impression of an embosser and a seal image the Board has approved. Board approval and permanence are the two tests; beyond them, the statute leaves the device type open.
Why must the signature and date be handwritten?
Because § 32116(d) shuts out every substitute. It requires your written signature and date next to the seal, says a facsimile signature will not be accepted, and rejects computer-generated signatures and dates outright.
What the statute restricts is the signature and date; the seal itself is not restricted. So on a single Guam sheet, a Board-approved seal image can sit beside a hand signature.
What statement is written next to the seal?
A statement certifying that your work “was prepared by me or under my responsible control.” Section 32116(d) pairs this statement with your signature and date, both signed beside the seal, so the three always appear together on each sealed document.
The statement echoes the responsible control language of (d)(9)(A). Leave room for it on every sheet, and on reports and specifications as well as drawings.
Can a Guam architectural submission be fully electronic?
No. The statute accepts a Board-approved electronic seal image but not an electronic signature, so a digital file can carry the seal image while the signature and date beside it still have to be handwritten.
Because Section 32116(d) makes no provision for any kind of electronic signature, it identifies no verification procedure, cryptographic standard or certificate authority. Expect to sign sealed sets by hand.
Does a house on Guam need an architect's seal?
Not necessarily. Under subsection (d)(9)(B) of the seal section, plans for an individual single family dwelling can be sealed by an architect or by a professional engineer in the civil branch, and either seal is sufficient.
A civil engineer's seal is enough for two family dwellings or for a subdivision made up of single and two family dwellings. Even so, Subsection (d)(9)(C) requires the seal of an engineer in the appropriate branch on any part of the work that belongs to a separate branch of engineering.
What happens to the seal when a registration expires or is suspended?
Not addressed. No rule in Section 32116(d) covers the seal after expiration, suspension or revocation, nor does the section say whether a registration number may be reissued.
The shared section does list an expiration date among the elements it mentions, but that element is written for professional engineers, so it does not settle the question for architects either.
What should you settle with the Board before ordering?
The authorized design. Since the statute calls for a seal in a Board-authorized design and publishes no dimension, use the Board's design as your reference for layout and size before ordering.
Next, confirm the face shows your professional designation, registration number and registered name. Because the statute refuses facsimile signatures, a signature stamp cannot stand in for your hand. The shared provision as it applies to other professions is covered in our pages on Guam landscape architect seal rules and Guam land surveyor seal rules; a separate seal is covered in the Guam notary stamp and embosser rules.
Frequently asked questions
Should I sign over the seal or next to it?
Next to it. Under Section 32116(d), you sign and date in writing adjacent to the seal, that is, beside the impression; the section never describes signing across it.
Can software add the date to the sheet?
No. Computer-generated dates are not acceptable under § 32116(d), and the statute has the date signed next to the seal along with your signature, so write it by hand.
Can I seal drawings a consultant prepared?
Only if they were prepared under your responsible control. Subsection (d)(9)(A) allows an architect to sign and seal only submissions the architect prepared or that people under the architect's responsible control prepared.
Does an architecture firm need its own seal on Guam?
The seal provision creates none. Section 32116(d) sets out no seal for firms and asks for no firm number anywhere on a sealed document; entity practice is handled in other parts of 22 GCA ch. 32 and in the Board's rules at 25 GAR ch. 1.
Which board registers architects on Guam?
The Guam Board of Registration for Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors. Its authority comes from 22 GCA ch. 32, The Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors Law, and § 32116(d) holds the seal rules for each profession the Board registers.
Once the Board's authorized design is in hand, choose your seal from our Guam stamps and seals collection.
